Tournament Preview: Lyon 22-30 October

GRAND PRIX DE TENNIS DE LYON 2005

The fourth of 5 tournaments to be held on French soil, the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon promises to be bigger and better 
than ever in 2005 with a dazzling line-up of top tennis players. Heading the list is current world number 3, Andy Roddick, 
and he is joined by this year's French Open finalist and current world number 10, Mariano Puerta, of Argentina; his 
compatriot and last year's French Open champion, Gaston Gaudio; in-form Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic, fresh off back to back 
wins in Metz and Vienna; fellow Croat, Mario Ancic; and the much-improved Spaniard, David Ferrer. French fans will be able 
to cheer on their countrymen in Sebastien Grosjean, Gael Monfils, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Arnaud Clément. A notable 
exception here is world number 13, Richard Gasquet, who was set to thrill his home crowd, but was forced to pull out with 
an recurring elbow injury that will sadly sideline him for the rest of the season. Nevertheless, this year's field is 
undoubedly one of the strongest in the tournament's history and will provide an enthralling prelude to the final tournament 
of the year (for most players) in Paris the week after.

Last year's final saw young Swede, Robin Söderling, capture his first ATP title against Belgian, Xavier Malisse, who was 
also looking for his first tournament win. The Swede prevailed in 3 sets 6-2 3-6 6-4, while the doubles was won by the 
Israeli pairing of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, who defeated Jonas Björkman and Radek Stepanek 7-6(2) 6-2. Söderling was 
another acceptance for the tournament and was without doubt looking forward to defending his title, but, like Gasquet, was 
forced to withdraw due to injury. So the question remains, who will triumph in 2005? Roddick will start as favourite, 
although, given current form, Ivan Ljubicic will definitely be one to watch, after winning two indoor tournaments in 
succession and playing on his favourite surface. 

Qualifying will be on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October, with the main draw commencing on Monday the 24th. The tournament 
will be held at the Palais des Sports de Gerland located on Avenue Jean Jaures in the 7th arrondissement and the official 
hotel is the Sofitel Lyon Bellecour at Quai Gailleton. Tickets may be purchased online at 
http://www.progrescope.com/index.html or via the hotline +33 04 72 22 25 63. They may also be booked from other various 
places like Billetterie Le Progrès and Virgin, as well as from the tournament venue from Monday 17th October. For more 
information, visit http://www.gptennislyon.com/R3_public/R3-2_an/R3-2-9_resa/F3-2-9.Cfm. If you need more information on 
the city of Lyon and what it has to offer, try checking out Lyon.fr or the Lyon Guide http://www.lyonguide.com/. 

Tournament Fast Facts:
Venue: Palais des Sports de Gerland, Lyon, France
Dates: 22 - 30 October 2005
Singles Qualifying: 32 
Main Draw Singles: 32 
Main Draw Doubles: 16 
Surface: Indoor carpet
Prize Money: € 659, 000
Tournament Director: Gilles Moretton

Main Draw Players:
Roddick, Andy USA 
Puerta, Mariano ARG 
Gaudio, Gaston ARG 
Ferrer, David ESP 
Ljubicic, Ivan CRO 
Robredo, Tommy ESP 
Ancic, Mario CRO 
Ginepri, Robby USA 
Dent, Taylor USA
Lopez, Feliciano ESP 
Rochus, Olivier BEL 
Grosjean, Sebastien FRA 
Blake, James USA 
Malisse, Xavier BEL 
Hanescu, Victor ROM 
Monfils, Gael FRA 
Sanguinetti, Davide ITA 
Spadea, Vincent USA 
Andreev, Igor RUS  
Mathieu, Paul-Henri FRA 
Mello, Ricardo BRA 
Mayer, Florian GER 
Clément, Arnaud FRA 

Alternates:
Hernych, Jan CZE 
Djokovic, Novak SCG 
Lapentti, Nicolas ECU  
Seppi, Andreas ITA 
Karlovic, Ivo CRO 
Santoro, Fabrice FRA 
Behrend, Tomas GER 
Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 
Dlouhy, Lukas CZE 
Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 
Burgsmuller, Lars GER 
Schuettler, Rainer GER  
Popp, Alexander GER 

Main Draw Doubles:
Jonathan Erlich (ISR) Andy Ram (ISR) 
Cyril Suk (CZE) Pavel Vizner (CZE) 
Jordan Kerr (AUS) Travis Parrot (USA) 
Julien Benetteau (FRA) Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 
Jeff Coetzee (RSA)  Rogier Wassen (NED) 
Olivier Rochus (BEL) Tom Vanhoudt (BEL)  
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) David Skoch (CZE) 
Ashley Fisher (USA) Tripp Phillips (USA)